Hooray! It has finally happened ... the sun is out. For a couple of days at least. I hope you all had a good Easter holiday and managed to get plenty of training in! It turns out Essex schools chose the wrong holiday timetable seeing as I am back at work but friends that teach in Hertfordshire are merrily enjoying the sunshine.

Our TT is all set and ready to go so thanks again for all those who volunteered to help run it. I strongly recommend that you try to work some of the TT's into your schedule as they are a fantastic competitive training session that you can't replicate on your own and will make you fitter and faster. Please see finalised table for dates and times. I look forward to cheering you lot on and hopefully will take part in a few myself.

This next month is going to be a big test for a lot of you as training will be ramping up, intensity of sessions will be increasing, time trials set during training will be decreasing (hopefully!) and the pressure and excitement starts to build towards the first season's race. We have our own tri coming up soon, as well as Newmarket and a European Qualifier still to go for our duathletes. For our several of our athletes are taking part in forthcoming marathons. Good luck to Colin and Teresa who will now be tapering for London which is only a week away.

If your training is going well (or even if it isn't) and you are putting a lot of effort into it, I would recommend you give yourself time to practise transitions. We all know how wobbly legs can feel after a punishing bike ride but regular runs off the bike (if only for 5 mins) it makes a huge difference to race day. The simple act of practising running up to your bike, squishing your helmet on, grabbing your bike and jumping on can save precious time. It seems like it takes valuable time out of training to develop these skills but it will save you time. 20 secs can easily be gained by a smooth transition. Taking 20 secs out of your swim or run requires a huge amount of effort and increased performance so think of it as free gains!

Have you ever been on one of those situations where your heart feels like its going to explode ands your lungs are burning in your chest? Twenty minutes of cardio in the gym reduced me to this fairly pitiful state. I am trying to blame it on pollen and hayfever induced asthma but I'm not sure that many people are buying it. Almost four months of injury has taken its toll on mind and body and I have been like a bear with a sore head to not get my training fix. The wiser people I know have spoken of all the other worldly and important things life has to offer and that 'in the great scheme of things' being unable to run or cycle is fairly insignificant. They clearly don't know what they are talking about! Being able to test yourself every now and again at some physical feat is one of the ways I define myself as a person. I don't know why I am like this. I just am. And so are you lot. So next time you hear an athlete moaning about not being able to train, please be empathetic!

So here I am, unable to run. And yet on Sunday, I have a five mile run (yes, an actual race!) for a team at work. We are imaginatively titled the 'Education' Team. Our purpose is to beat the socks of the 'Office' Team. I have found myself in this undesirable situation largely due to our Deputy Head being egged on by his neighbour. Unfortunately my team, a few of whom are followers on Strava, are under the mistaken belief that they are in a more confident position with me on their side. Ha ha....how little they know!

By this point in time I have gone from thinking '5 miles is nothing, bring it on!' (last November) to 'I might not be able to be that quick but I should do ok' (January), 'oh heck, I am no way running fit, this will hurt' (February) and last but not least 'if my knee gives out, will you come back and pick me up please?' (March).

I hope all of you are in the enviable situation of training developing fitness and strength and not the detraining that I am feeling at the moment! Speaking of burning heart and lungs ...

10 mile TT
Thank you so much for all those who quickly shouted out. We have now a much better looking TT team! There are a few outstanding dates to be covered where we need helpers on the 6th and 20th August. If you are available to help on these dates, please let me know. Please see table for confirmation of the dates you are leading/helping.

Helpers

TT Date

Time

Leader: David Peasgood Helpers: Jeremy Buss & Lucy Morgan

14th May

19:30

Leader: Lou Rolfe Helpers: Lucy Morgan & Simon Page

28th May

19:30

Leader: Lou Rolfe Helpers: Claire Powell & Kate Bozianu

11th June

19:30

Leader: David Peasgood Helpers: Jess H & Vince L

25th June

19:30

Leader:Hannah Traer Helpers: Steve K & Claire

09th July

19:30

Leader: Steve Vigor Helpers: Steve K & Kate

23rd July

19:30

Leader: Steve Vigor Helpers: ??

06th August

19:15

Leader: Bradley Morris Helpers - ??

20th August

19:00

The Well Dones!
Once again, I need to say a big congratualations to Michael Buchallet and Pete Thompson who stormed Clumber Park Duathlon last weekend. This was a qualifying event for the European and World Championships and both finished brilliantly in this hard race. Pete who finished 4th in his AG in the sprint distance and Michael 11th of his AG in the Standard distance. We will be keeping our fingers crossed that qualifications will be announced for both of you.

We need three people every TT. I have had some members who have come forward to help, but as you can see in the table below, there are a lot of gaps.
We need one person to oversee and two helpers. Without this, the TT will not take place!

For anyone that can help out for the evening or be a leader, please contact me via FB or email: lourolfe@live.co.uk.

Our bike TT is a fantastic training session in a competitive environment that you cannot replicate on your own. It would be a huge loss to the club if we are unable to run it due to lack of help.

After a cracking turn out at the Cambridge Half Marathon with 20 WaldenTRI members taking part, we had some fantastic results all round. A strong winter training is obviously paying off. A big well done to Jess for an absolutely amazing run finishing in 16th place in a very tough field. Adam was the first WaldenTRI runner home with a quick run of 1:26:57 and Brendan hot on his heels 9 seconds later. I would have loved to have seen that finish! Well done all that took part.

We've barely got out of freezing temperatures and already some of our members are out there racing! Well done to Michael Buchallet and Doug Bowen who took part in The Anglian Water Sprint Duathlon last week. At this early stage in the season they pertain impressive performances coming first and third in the age groups respectively. A great result guys, well done!

Park Runs
Within the club we have a number of fans of the Park Run. They take part across the country and are normally set at amazing venues. It is a fantastic 5K run which take part on Saturday mornings and a absolutely free. There is a new park run starting in Hatfield Forest, starting from the is 21st March. More details can be found here www.parkrun.org.uk. If you are new to park run please remember to register first.

Facebook Group
Just to make you aware, we are keeping our WaldenTRI Facebook group as a 'friends of WaldenTRI'. This means some members of the group have long-term links to the club and that not every member of the group is a member of WaldenTRI.

Time Trials
Our popular 10 mile bike time trial will be something to look forward to! We will have a series of six dates over late spring and summer where you will be able to test yourself. If you have previously done a few of these time trials, please consider helping the club and getting involved in helping run a TT. We also do need some volunteers to help with the general running of them, no experience required! The time trials are a fantastic competitive events which are fun and a great way of boosting your training. A list of dates will follow.

I hope you are managing to get out there in train and please don't forget to let me know your plans for the races this year!